New bid to find donor for Keano

Huw Silk

A desperate mum says her son needs a bone marrow transfer urgently as she launches another registration drive this weekend.

Keano Klein suffers from a rare condition which means he cannot fight infections – and he needs to find a donor as soon as possible.

The eight-year-old suffers from Kostmann’s Syndrome, which means he lacks white blood cells.

But mum Chantelle says the search is complicated by the fact her son is mixed race – meaning he needs a mixed race donor.

Chantelle, from Zimbabwe, lives in Kettering, and is hosting a bone marrow registration drive in at the Centre MK in Milton Keynes on Saturday, May 18.

She is being helped by the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), who are appealing for black and mixed race people between the ages of 16 and 49 to register by providing either a blood or saliva sample.

Chantelle said: “Because we are mixed race it’s very difficult to find an exact match from the same ethnic background. It’s just that one person out there.

“Every person has a match.”

She has chosen Milton Keynes because of its sizeable Zimbabwean community.

Keano, who is unable to produce white blood cells has his 10th operation coming up in June.

It means he is vulnerable to falling seriously ill from what would, to most other children, be minor illnesses.

“It’s difficult when you have got a sick child and no-one understands. As much as I’ve tried to protect him against this disease, it is completely out of my control.

“There are a lot of things that go with the operations. It’s scary for me as a parent.”

Beverley De-Gale, the co-founder of the ACLT, said: “It’s heartbreaking for any parent to watch their child suffer, even more so when 10 minutes out of a stranger’s life could give eight-year-old Keano the rest of his.”

To donate or find out more visit the website www.aclt.org or call 020 8240 4480.